THE SECOND PAGE OF INC NEWS

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

More than a thousand people gathered on Moscow's Manezh Square on Tuesday in a show of support for convicted opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg, but the turnout fell short of the 18,000 people who had signed up on social media and riot police quickly suppressed those who did brave the bitter cold.

At least 132 people had been detained two hours into the protest, according to OVD-Info, an independent website that monitors detentions at opposition rallies. Among those detained was Navalny himself, who violated his house arrest to attend the unsanctioned rally. Earlier in the day, a Moscow court had issued its verdict in the embezzlement case against the brothers after bumping up the initial hearing date from Jan. 15 to Dec. 30. The court sentenced Navalny and his brother to three and a half years each, though the anti-corruption fighter got off with a suspended sentence while Oleg was taken into custody and hit with prison time. After the decision, Navalny denounced the Russian authorities for, in his view, targeting his brother to punish him.

New Traffic regulations published in the republican press, will come into force in 7 days. New traffic regulations have been approved by the resolution # 1196 of the RoK Government on November 13, 2014.

On December 27, new traffic regulations have been published officially, and as of January 7, the drivers in Kazakhstan should follow the new rules. To recall, a lot of amendments have been introduced into the Traffic rules after the adoption of law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On road traffic”, including rather disputable changes that caused many complaints of the public. In particular, mandatory registration of the power of attorney for a vehicle is mentioned in traffic regulations for several times, though it was promised that this legislative norm would be cancelled as of January 1.

Also the new rules retained the ban to park “on roads and streets of settlements, except the places that are specially allocated for this purpose and designated by the corresponding road signs”, was even protested by the republican prosecutors. Item 19 of new traffic regulations obliging the drivers to turn on dimmed headlights, fog lights or navigation lights on all roads without exception during daylight hours will become one of the main innovations. Earlier this requirement extended only to cars driving on highways outside the settlement zones. Also, the rules became stricter on driving the kids under 12 years of age without special chairs.

Growth in passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport, one of the world's busiest, slowed in November because of the geopolitical and economic instability hitting Russia, the airport's operator said on Tuesday.

Dubai is a popular tourist destination for Russians and a convenient place for them to park some of their savings abroad. Western economic sanctions against Moscow since the pro-Russian uprising in Ukraine, and the slide of the Russian ruble, appear to have reduced Russian visitors in recent months. Passenger traffic related to Russia and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States plunged 18.2 percent from a year earlier in November, Dubai Airports said. This cut growth in total passenger traffic through Dubai International, which rose 4.3 percent to 5.6 million people in November, slowing from 5.7 percent growth in October.

At least 27 people were injured Tuesday when a bus carrying Russian tourists overturned in Thailand's southern province of Phuket, a news report said. According to preliminary information, the injured included two Thai citizens and 25 Russians, all of whom have been hospitalized, the head of the consular section of the Russian embassy in Thailand, Vladimir Sosnov, told TASS on Tuesday.

The accident occurred when a tour bus skidded off the road and overturned, the report said.

Gazprom has bought out the shares of South Stream Transport BV, a company that was in charge of the construction of the cancelled gas pipeline marine section.

Italy’s Eni, Wintershall of Germany, and France’s EDF have decided to withdraw from the South Stream project. They have sold their shares to Gazprom, which already owned 50 percent of South Stream Transport BV."Due to the fact that it’s difficult to predict receiving permission for South Stream, and calculate the economic consequences of delaying its construction for an indefinite period, the participants decided to close the project,"said Wintershall’s spokesperson commenting on the decision to sell the stake.

Over 40 bodies have been recovered from the missing AirAsia flight, the Indonesian Navy said. Objects resembling parts of the plane, as well as what was thought to be the plane’s outline underwater, were seen in the search area.INC News, 30/12/2014